Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....
Portland, Maine City Council recently voted 7-1 on a resolution addressed to Congress demanding they Bring Our War $$ Home.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll has found that the war in Afghanistan is once again opposed by a majority of Americans. Fifty-two percent of respondents said the war is not worth fighting, which means the bump in support for the war that followed Obama's announcing his new Afghanistan strategy in December has disappeared.
Congress will soon vote on another war supplemental in the amount of $33 billion. Now is the time to contact your representative in the House of Representatives and say NO more war funding. Bring Our War $$ Home.
Call your member of Congress at 202-225-3121
The peace movement needs to show that it is not in the pocket of the Democratic Party by speaking out loudly against this new war supplemental.
I was in the dentist chair in Gainesville, Florida when 9-11 happened. I never believed the "official story" and early on agreed to speak at conferences held in San Francisco and Toronto organized by the emerging 9-11 truth movement.
For two years after 9-11, at every talk I did anywhere in the U.S., people would ask what I thought about 9-11 during the question and answer period. It was clear to me that many people also had grave doubts about the "official line" about the 9-11 attacks, even if they were reluctant to say so in public.
Last night I went to Portland to listen to Dr. David Ray Griffin speak to nearly 100 people about the links between 9-11 and the war in Afghanistan. Griffin has written nine books on the subject and is a former professor at the Claremont (California) School of Theology.
Griffin began with a detailed review of the illegality of the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan following 9-11. He acknowledged that most American people are still unaware of the illegality of this war. And, he said, "Obama has taken over the Bush-Cheney account of 9-11" as witnessed in his West Point speech some time ago.
Griffin reminded us that the Bush administration was "prepared to bomb Afghanistan two months prior to 9-11." This was after the pipeline deal between Unocal and the Taliban had broken down. In July of 2001, in Berlin, the Bush team demanded that the Taliban agree to allow construction of pipelines to move Caspian Sea oil and natural gas through their country. They were told they could have either a "carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs."
Next Griffin reviewed the 9-11 Commission Report that admitted they had no success in gaining any evidence of Osama Bin-Ladin's involvement in 9-11." The FBI also acknowledged it had "no hard evidence" of his role either.
Griffin maintained that 9-11 was a "false flag operation" in order to create the political support for expanding U.S. bases in the Middle East and Central Asia, massive increases in military spending, and development of new war fighting technologies.
He spent considerable time documenting the controlled collapse of Building 7 which was not hit by planes on 9-11. Bldg 7 was 47 stories tall and only had fires on six floors. FEMA, Griffin said, has acknowledged it had no explanation for the collapse of Bldg 7.
In order for such a controlled collapse of Bldg 7, 82 steel columns had to fail simultaneously for such an implosion to occur. This was only possible with the use of explosives such as nano-thermite which is not commonly available. In order for iron to melt, the temperatures would have to reach at least 2,800 degrees and normal office fires at most reach 1,800 degrees.
Government reports suggested that "fires of office furniture" inside Bldg 7 caused the implosion. This is obviously ridiculous.
The organization Architects & Engineers for 9-11 Truth, made up of about 1,200 professionals, has done much work to debunk the mythology surrounding 9-11. They have repeatedly shown that steel frame buildings worldwide have never collapsed due to fires and that Bldg 7 could have only been brought down by high explosives. "Who would have the kind of access to these three buildings for such an operation?", Griffin asked the audience.
"Millions of people have died because of the big lie of 9-11," Griffin concluded. Sixty percent of the 9-11 responders (fire, police, rescue squads) have serious illnesses today from the toxic dust they inhaled. More will die from the rescue and clean-up operation than on 9-11 itself, he stated.
"Democrats have been as bad as Republicans for centuries" when it comes to American imperialism, Griffin said, as he recounted past examples of U.S. government false flag operations.
One question from the audience was, "What do we do?" Griffin acknowledged that it was the most difficult question to answer but said that in the end we must be able to say that we stood up and raised questions and organized when many feared doing so.
Europeans are increasingly becoming more critical of the official story Griffin reported, including media there now willing to openly discuss 9-11.
In the end, he concluded, "We don't give up."
"Physical laws contradict official theory," Griffin said several times throughout his talk. You can't argue with the science that absolutely proves that the collapse of Bldg 7 was a premeditated operation that was beyond the capabilities of Osama Bin-Ladin. There are so many holes in the official story that it looks like Swiss cheese.
To activists like me, who have seen the expansion of endless war and massive funding for military space technology since 9-11, I feel a moral and ethical responsibility to fix my glare on the reality of the collapsing buildings and destroyed lives and ask the basic and fundamental questions - why and who?
I Forgot To Say: Griffin called for a new investigation of 9-11 suggesting the $11 million official one was a complete bust. He reminded us that the space shuttle Challenger investigation some years ago cost $50 million.
The Rainbow Boy is an allegorical tale about the consequences of loss of culture and human devastation of planet earth. The story tells about an ancient Navajo warrior, Eagle Catcher, who enters a sacred cave despite an ancient prophecy that warns against entering the cave. Eagle Catcher is transported to the future, which is our own present, where he sees and lives the prophetic devastation of modern humans. His arrival profoundly affects young Ozzie Yazzie, a modern Navajo punk kid struggling to understand his own identity and culture. Almost dying, Eagle Catcher is assisted by his Navajo people, who take him back to the holy cave. Upon returning to his own time, he is given four prophecies about the dire consequences of human choices and actions for the future of planet earth.
The Rainbow Boy is groundbreaking in that it was written by a Navajo, is directed and produced by a Navajo, and has an entirely Navajo cast. It's also shot almost entirely in the Navajo language, with subtitles.
THE RAINBOW BOY is still in post production. Completion date is June 2010.
I took our guest Narayana Rao, visiting from India, to the Maritime Museum in Bath today. He was most struck by the fact that this once great commercial ship building city now only builds Navy Aegis destroyers.
We took the city bus to the museum but then walked past the Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard on the way home. As we walked by we saw another multi-billion dollar destroyer being built.
It was in this moment that Rao said, "I can see that America builds nothing else but weapons. And to make sure that they can build more, they must have more wars."
Exactly, I replied.
We had a pot luck supper in Rao's honor at the house tonight and one of the folks asked him what he thought of the museum. He responded, "I was very depressed when I left the museum today. America can never have the democracy it claims to have as long as your country keeps building weapons."
Right again Rao.
In the discussion after dinner Rao also noted that he sees very little reaction on the part of the American people to the loss of democracy, endless war, and the destruction of social progress across the nation. He said that it was evident to him that the media is suppressed and that the public has few options to get real debate about alternative ways of dealing with our many problems. Why though are the people not reacting, he asked? Why are there not more protests?
Maybe the answer was in his initial reaction to our city of 10,000 people here in Bath. He said that in India people would think everyone in Bath is rich. Even though the working-class community of Bath has one of the highest poverty rates in Maine, people are still relatively comfortable in comparison with the 300 million people living in poverty in India.
Americans know we have our collective "boot" on the necks of the people of the world so that we can extract resources from them. In the U.S. we are 5% of the world's population but consume 25% of the planet's resources. In order to continue that disparity someone must suffer.
Americans have convinced themselves that the Pentagon's "boot" brings democracy and freedom to the world. That is how we rationalize it. The American people have been brainwashed to believe in "exceptionalism" - that we are better than everyone else - that we deserve to control the world because we are #1 .... gods chosen people. This kind of thinking is malarkey but many people still believe it.
Rao's visit here has already helped many of us to put on another set of glasses and view ourselves from a different perspective. It's not a pretty picture.
The first test flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV)-2 failed
* Just back from New York City yesterday afternoon with much to catch up on. Feeling a bit groggy. Might be a second cup of tea morning. The sun is shining and the temperature outside more to my liking - cool. A beautiful Maine day. Our guest Rao has gone for a walk to the local library. Housemate Karen will take him for a ride out to the ocean today while I try to get my backlog of work done.
* Space Newsreports, "The U.S. Defense Department’s first test flight of a new hypersonic glider ended abruptly as communications with the vehicle ceased mid-flight, a setback in the Pentagon’s pursuit of a highly precise long-range strike weapon. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV)-2 program is one of three designs in the running to serve as the basis for the Conventional Prompt Global Strike weapon the Pentagon wants to build in order to hit a target anywhere in the world within an hour with a non-nuclear munition. The first of three planned HTV-2 flight tests took place April 22."
"The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has made clear its intention to maintain the nation’s strategic deterrent while reducing its dependence on nuclear weapons. As such, the New START nuclear arms reduction agreement signed with Russia on April 8 will not constrain any current or planned conventionally-armed ballistic missiles, according to an April 8 fact sheet posted on the U.S. State Department’s website."
The cost of this week's HTV test and a follow-on in 2011, together is $308 million. Your tax dollars in action enriching the aerospace industry and likely ensuring a new, expensive, arms race in space as Russia and China (who clearly understand they will be the targets) feel they must respond.
* I got an interesting email the other day about Obama's effort to privatize NASA and "civilian" space operations.
The article, by Steve Zeltzer, reports, "A full bore campaign is now being waged by the Obama administration to shutdown the U.S. unionized space program and turn it over to 'new age' speculators who want to build a new space program in a 'regulation free zone' in Florida. A key player in this plan is billionaire and former owner of Paypal, Elon Musk."
Musk, has set up SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) which appears to be on the way to running a taxi service for American astronauts. This is just another step toward eventual turning "ownership" of the planetary bodies over to corporations who envision making untold riches from mining the sky in years to come. You, the taxpayers, have paid the technology start-up costs and now the corporate elite will stand to make zillions in profits and pay little back in taxes.
*Yonhap Newsreports, "South Korea's first Aegis destroyer will undergo a comprehensive evaluation of its fighting capabilities near Hawaii in June, a Navy source said Monday.
"The source said Sejong the Great will conduct tests while taking part in the multinational Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise. Lockheed Martin -- the developer of the Aegis system -- and U.S. Navy experts will act as observers and evaluate the weapons systems during the trial."
This is an indication that the South Korean Navy is now being fully integrated into the command structure of the U.S. Navy and that the Aegis destroyers that would be deployed at the proposed base on Jeju Island will in fact be a part of the larger U.S. military strategy of surrounding China's coastal region in order to create the ability to choke off their importation of oil via ship.
See the recent New York Times article on China's fear and response here
* I head back to NYC on May 7 for a couple more international meetings including the Global Network annual meeting on May 9.
Dan La Botz is a prominent labor union activist, academic, journalist, and author in the United States. He was a co-founder of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) and has written extensively on worker rights in the United States and Mexico. His writing appears frequently in Against the Current, Counterpunch, Labor Notes, Monthly Review, New Labor Forum and Z Magazine. He is the editor of Mexican Labor News & Analysis.
I was out early this morning and took the subway north to 125th Street in Harlem. There gathered about 100 people (25 of whom were monks and nuns from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist order) from the four different peace walks that merged onto New York City in time for the peace conference and today's march and rally.
The combined peace walkers headed south on 1st Avenue all the way to the United Nations - about 85 city blocks in the intense heat and humidity of the day.
As we passed through Harlem, black and Hispanic people greeted us in an open and friendly way. They stopped respectfully as we passed by, many people looked out of the rows of public housing apartment towers and waved to us once they got an idea what all the drumming and chanting was about. People flashed smiles and peace signs. The old black women, dressed for church with their big summer hats, nodded in a way that showed they understood the spiritual nature of the peace walk.
After about 20 some city blocks we left Harlem and moved into the predominately white community. There the response was much different. Many of the white folks, with their ipods plugged into their ears were jogging by and didn't bother to look at us, or they rushed past (and sometimes even through) our walk. Blank looks on their face were quite common as they erected a sentry tower around their emotions. I had the thought that it was like the peace walk was a lovely rare flower in the desert and these people didn't have the "time" or the inclination to notice. Some even looked dead inside.
Of course I am generalizing, there were some exceptions in the white community, but by and large there was a world of difference in how the people - just 20 city blocks apart - viewed the walk.
After the walk arrived at the U.N. the walkers were invited into the church center just across the street from the U.N. where an inter-faith service was held. I went and had lunch with two dear friends who are here from Santa Monica, California - Cris Guiterrez and Randy Ziglar. Whenever I am in Southern California, I always stay at their home and sleep on their small apartment living room floor. Randy is a retired beach lifeguard and a great organic urban gardener, and Cris, a longtime worker in the public school system, recently lost her job due to fiscal crisis in their state. They took the train across the U.S. to come to New York City.
After lunch we wandered down to Times Square where the rally was to be held. Much to our surprise the rally was spread out over about 4-5 blocks with one lane of traffic barracaded off and the 10,000 or so peace advocates were spread along this long line and had to sit on the hot road pavement for over three hours before the official march to the U.N. began. They had a good sound system set up with powerful amplification along each block but the heat made the wait difficult.
The good thing though was that as new people arrived they had to walk along the sidewalk past the long string of caged protesters (most of whom seemed to be from Japan or from Europe) - Americans seemed to be vastly outnumbered. But sitting there for that long I was able to see many friends pass by which helped make the hot wait bearable.
Finally just after 4:00 pm the march began and it took about an hour to make our way back to the U.N. where the march ended and organizational tabling and music was going on. By that time I was physically drained from the heat and the long day of walking. The first thing I wanted was something cold and fruity and I went inside the first store I found to buy a popsicle.
I figured I had earned the delicious treat.
In the morning I head back to Maine on the train and bring Narayana Rao from India with me for a few days.
The international peace conference is taking place inside this enormous Riverside Church, probably most famous for MLK's anti-Vietnam speech one year to the day before he was killed by the CIA.
Well over 800 people are here from all over the world. Things began last night with a series of good speeches and have continued today with workshops (including the one I led on missile defense along with Sarah Cartin from CND in the UK and J. Narayana Rao who is on our Global Network board from India).
My favorite talk so far was done by Zia Mian who last night blasted Obama's foreign policy. Zia directs the Project on Peace & Security at Princeton University in New Jersey.
Zia's opening words were, "We are at a moment of profound crisis." The old world order has unraveled and "existing structures can't sustain the status quo," he said. "The last thing they are willing to contemplate is easily letting go of their power."
The notion of Obama offering real change "has been shown to be without foundation."
"People wanted change and what they got was Obama," he joked.
Zia reminded the packed audience that "Obama is not the first American president who has promised this [nuclear disarmament]."
The recent Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) presented by Obama, and Bush's previous NPR, reveal an "amazing continuity," Zia reported. Obama is continuing the Bush program of "prompt global strike systems, missile defense, and modernization of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex."
"The old order continues in fundamental ways," he suggested.
Fundamentally, Zia reminded us to work to "break this perception that getting rid of nuclear weapons will bring peace....they are only the tip of the spear.....if we only get rid of the nuclear weapons nothing will change....we have to change the structures that manage the global economy....64 million more people around the world will be pushed into poverty due to the global economic crisis....the system of a small global [corporate] political elite must be ended."
Zia concluded by saying that the new SALT Treaty between the U.S. and Russia is not what matters.
"The use of force and power and violence in the world, and who decides is what matters....it's about profit making - who makes it and who takes it - it's about the nation state, armies, and war."
The highlight of today for me was when the walkers from four different peace walks (each from a different part of the U.S.) came into the hall during a plenary session and were warmly greeted. It was a great joy to see many old friends from past walks in Florida, Washington state, and recently in Maine.
In many respects these tireless walkers are doing the basic grassroots outreach to the public that we must all do more of if we have any hope of building the real movement that is so urgently needed.
Just one historical footnote - this church was essentially built with the oil money from the Rockefeller family riches.
Representatives of SPARK (Solidarity for Peace & Reunification of Korea)
It appears that one of the South Korean peace groups (SPARK, a Global Network affiliate) had trouble getting their delegates into the U.S. yesterday.
It seems that two women, Hye-Ran and Pyeon Yon-Sik, were retained in the JFK airport for three hours as soon as they arrived in New York City. They were eventually released.
According to the SPARK report, the South Korean right-wing Lee Myung-Bak government had requested the U.S. Homeland Security to send back them for the reasons of their protest career against the U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
As the security officers found out that all the entering procedures of the two have been properly done, they even mentioned that the South Korean government's behavior was out of order.
They also questioned why the Korean government even criminalized the peaceful press interview and protest of SPARK. The Lee government proved its poor policy even to the US homeland security officers...
Similar thing happened another time when the delegates of the Korean Progressive Alliance were restrained in the Switzerland airport on their way to join an international conference. The Lee Myung-Bak government had requested the Switzerland authority to send them back as well and the representatives, after all the horrible ordeal, had to eventually return back to Korea without being able to join any events there.
I am on the train to NYC and the wireless connection seems to come and go on this "Downeaster".
I got an email this morning from a Tea Party list that somehow got my name. One line in particular that stands out is "Arizona is being targeted by millions of illegal aliens for race riots!"
A virtual call to arms is now being sounded by some Tea Party organizers. One of them says:
"How many more Citizens must die before Washington realizes America is under a full scale attack? TeaParty.org will NOT negotiate our values. We will NOT stand down and we will NOT go silently into the night. " Stephen Eichler J.D. Executive Director - TeaParty.org
It is supremely obvious to me that the ruling elite in America recognize that people of color will be the majority population in the coming years and they don't like that fact one bit. Just like the apartheid regime in South Africa, during the early 1980's, they are embarking on a dangerous and divisive strategy to turn angry white voters (who see the nation slipping away) against blacks and Hispanics. The white working class conservatives refuse to see that it is the corporations who have moved their jobs overseas - not the Mexican immigrant who in fact has also seen their economy destabilized south of the border by the corporate NAFTA trade agreement that threw many of them off their small farms as agribusiness moved in and took over their lands.
Tons of corporate money is now being pumped into the Tea Party movement to make leaders out of marginal people who otherwise could not have dreamed of getting their hands on such a cash infusion and non-stop media coverage.
I worry that the next step will be a national call for the cowboys (with their loaded guns) to come to Arizona in order to "defend the state from the rising hoards of brown skin illegal aliens". That is when the shooting could start. It would be a deadly mix of guns, racism, religion, and misguided social policy that will help to redirect the growing anger away from the corporate oligarchy who are ultimately responsible for the mess we have today in America. As Chris Hedges has previously written, this is how Yugoslavia came apart at the seams.
The primary thing we can do is continually point out to the public that our economic collapse has not been caused by Mexicans. It is the direct result of corporate policies to move millions of jobs overseas for cheap labor and the inevitable huge costs of endless war.
The coming national debate over immigration must be viewed in the larger context of corporate policies. People of good will had better speak out soon, loudly, and often, if we hope to avert an ugly fall to violence.
* I will be getting up very early in the morning in order to catch the 5:45 a.m. train from Portland to New York City. Once there I will meet one of our Global Network members from India who will be joining me at the International Conference for a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World that will be held at Riverside Church on April 30-May 1.
Several of our Global Network leaders will do a conference workshop called Missile Defense Deployments Impact Hopes for Nuclear Disarmament.
Then on May 2 there will be a rally and march which many thousands are expected to attend from all over the world.
After that I, and my friend from India, will return to Maine for several days before we head back to New York City for the May 9 Global Network annual space organizing conference. See details here
We are excited that the producer of the new documentary Pax Americana will join us on May 9 to show the film and talk more about it.
* Have been picking up on bits of interesting info coming out of Washington DC concerning a debate going on inside the peace movement about the best strategy to deal with the war in Afghanistan.
Some are suggesting that we should not focus on the $33 billion war supplemental which comes up for a vote in Congress very soon. Instead, they are pushing legislation that would "require the President to develop a flexible timetable to draw down U.S. troops from Afghanistan."
There has always been this kind of tension in the peace movement between the grassroots and those who are based in the DC area and work closely with the Democrats who run Congress. It is my take that the toothless "flexible timeline for withdrawal" puts less pressure on the Dems than trying to force them to vote now against more war funding. Thus the Dems, and those close to them inside the peace movement, promote the more timid approach.
Local activists have to be circumspect about who they decide to follow over the cliff. I've been experiencing this "re-direct the peace movement into safer strategies" by the Democrats, and their peace allies in DC, since the nuclear freeze campaign in the early 1980's.
* Went to a "debate" last night here in Bath where the four remaining Democratic party candidates for governor in Maine appeared. It wasn't much of a debate as they all basically agreed that the next governor must do a better job of relaxing business regulations, "grow the economy," and raise some kinds of "revenues" to deal with Maine's fiscal crisis. One key revenue they agreed is a replacement for the gas tax as people are driving less and seeking more fuel efficient vehicles. One idea trotted out, that most of the candidates agreed with, was to tax a driver's annual mileage. In a large rural state like Maine that won't be a popular idea. Another idea by one of the candidates was to expand the toll highways in Maine further north.
There was some talk about rail and public transportation but mostly the railway expansion was in reference to moving commercial products as a way to save corporations money.
Bottom line for me is that these four folks are essentially corporate candidates who will do little to dramatically change things in Maine as we hit economic collapse and peak oil. None of them, as would be expected, said a word about endless war spending. They only took written questions from the 75 people in attendance in order to screen out any "unpleasantries."
Catholic priests and nuns led a prayer service for peace on April 26 in the Gangjeong village and against the Jeju Island Naval base plan. The Catholic community erected a large tent and held the service in the rain along the coastline where the base is planned. The priests and nuns plan to stay with the villagers as the Navy makes a move to hold an opening ceremony in the next few days for the construction of the base.
Lately several organizational delegations from various parts of South Korea have come to the village to show support for the people in their effort to stop the construction of the Navy base. Aegis destroyers, outfitted with "missile defense" systems, will be homeported at the base and used to surround China's coast.
In recent calls to the South Korea embassy several Global Network supporters were told that they should be calling the U.S. government since it is the one pushing the base. Those statements by S.K. embassy personnel were the first acknowledgement that the U.S. Navy is involved in the plan for the base.
U.S. Aegis destroyers are built at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE HELP THE VILLAGE: Call the South Korean Embassy at 202-939-5692 (Admiral Choi) or 202-939-5600 or email at consular_usa@mofat.go.kr
Tell the South Korean government that you oppose the U.S. and South Korean Navies building this base!
Our Congresswoman, Chellie Pingree (Democrat) in Maine's 1st District, has posted requests for federal funding on her web site.
Here is one of the requests, this one for $5,000,000 for a project called "Advanced Multifunctional Materials for Soldier Support and Protection" at the University of Maine-Orono.
The web site defines the project as: Current troop deployments require low cost, compact, rapidly deployable ballistic and blast protection to mitigate the threat of insurgents and their weapons.
What we are hearing across the nation is that as 45 state's fiscal crisis worsens they are cutting back funding for their state university systems - just like what is now happening in Maine.
As these cutbacks accelerate we find the politicians from both war parties then go to Washington and try to bring money home from the Pentagon and feed those funds into the state university systems to fill the budget gaps. Our public university systems are becoming research and development labs for the military industrial complex and they become more secretive as these dangerous trends continue.
A good friend of mine in Albuquerque, New Mexico reports that the University of New Mexico now has secret areas on the state university campus that are doing Star Wars research and development work. Students at the University of Hawaii a couple years ago occupied the campus administration building after their university signed a deal with the Navy to build a military research center on the campus.
Thus the taxpayer funded institutions begin to betray their original mission of public education for all in an open and democratic environment.
Physics, computer science, engineering, mathematics, and other departments are increasingly becoming dependent on war $$ and ruined as they are captured by the Pentagon agenda. The education community and the society at large become increasingly militarized as a result.
This is not just a coincidence that these trends are occurring. This is all part of the military industrial complex agenda to turn America's role in the global corporate economy to "security export."
If our elected officials representing us in Congress were worth their weight in salt they would instead be working feverishly to stop endless war funding and move those dollars back to our states and local communities for real investment in creating public transportation, open education, health care, building a solar society and more.
Sadly though Democrat and Republican politicians alike are on their bended knees begging the Pentagon for every dollar they can get their hands on and then loudly boasting how they are bringing home the bacon. The bacon though, in the case of military contracts for public educational institutions, comes with strings and helps to contribute to the further militarization of our killer culture.
